Heady Stuff Specialty breweries stand out from the crowd with unusual products.

For some beer drinkers of the Pilsner ilk, the thought ofcracking open a Raison D'Etre or an Unfiltered Wheat... well,it just doesn't occur. Venture out to the fringe, however, andit's different.

"The most heartening trend is that, while the beer industryis essentially flat overall, there's rekindled growth inhundreds of small, local breweries," says Sam Calagione,founder and owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Delaware, aswell as Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in nearby Rehoboth Beach."Unique brand identities and product lines are reallythriving."

Indeed, the nearly 1,400 U.S. craft brewers--which includebrewpubs, microbreweries (those that sell less than 15,000 barrelsper year) and specialty brewers--sold 7 percent more beer in 2004than in 2003, according to the Brewers Association, a trade association forU.S. craft brewers. Craft beer is the fastest-growing segment ofthe U.S. alcoholic beverage industry.